Understanding Your Congregation as a System: The Manual

by George D. Parsons, Speed B. Leas

Overview

Parsons and Leas have created an important tool for congregational leaders in this application of systems theory to evaluating a congregation’s life and readiness for change. Church leaders can explore the forces at work and examine the systemic implications in seven key areas: strategy, process, pastoral and lay leadership, authority, relatedness, and learning. The Manual provides an overview of systems theory, complete instructions for administering and scoring the Congregational Systems Inventory (CSI), and guidance for interpreting and explaining the inventory results using sample scores. The Congregational Systems Inventory is a survey designed to sample the perspectives of church staff, governing board, and key lay leaders. Be sure to order some packs of the CSI along with this valuable resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566991186
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/01/1994
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

George Parsons, a former senior consultant with the Alban Institute and a Presbyterian minister who has served local congregations. He has advanced degrees in counseling and psychology and is trained in conflict management and organizational development. Speed B. Leas, a former senior consultant with the Alban Institute, began his affiliation with Alban in 1977 and has served congregations throughout California. He has done advanced work in organization development and systems theory and works in the area of conflict management with congregations.

Table of Contents

I. Congregational Systems Inventory Introduction
The Tyranny of Successful Habits

II. Congregations as Systems
Systems Theory Axioms
Seeing the Whole: A Perceptual Shift for Congregational Leaders

III. Creative Tension
Beyond Homeostasis
Congregational Systems Inventory Measures Degree of Tension

IV. Systems Dimensions
Introduction
Strategy
Authority
Process
Pastoral Leadership
Relatedness
Lay Leadership
Learning
Conclusion

V. Analyzing the Profile
Interpreting Scores
Reading the Overall Profile
Trouble-Shooting Guide

VI. Strategies for Reclaiming Tension
Capitalizing on the Environmental and Developmental Forces
Becoming Conscious
Keeping Contention Alive
Recontracting
Disturbing the Equilibrium
Training

VII. Moving Out of Excess: The Strategy Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Planned End of the Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Spontaneous End of the Scale

VIII. Moving Out of Excess: The Authority Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Concentrated End of the Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Dispersed End of the Scale

IX. Moving Out of Excess: The Process Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Mandatory End of the Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Discretionary End of theScale

X. Moving Out of Excess: The Leadership Scales
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Managerial End of the Scales
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Transformational End of the Scale

XI. Moving Out of Excess: The Relatedness Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Collegial End of the Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Individual End of the Scale

XII. Moving Out of Excess: The Learning Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Maximizing End of the Scale
Strategies to Move from Excess at the Metamizing End of the Scale

XIll. Profile Statistics
Generalizations about Congregations
Congregational Size Theory and the CSI Data

Appendix: Introducing the CSI: A Suggested Meeting Design
Notes
Bibliography